Robert Cumber

A man has been charged with the attempted murder of four children following a crash in South Yorkshire.

Owen Scott was arrested on Wednesday evening after a car containing the 29-year-old and four children, aged between nine months and eight years, ploughed into a pub wall in Barnsley on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old, of Heather Road, in Fawley, Hampshire, was this evening charged with four counts of attempted murder and one count of dangerous driving.

He was remanded into custody to appear at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.

South Yorkshire Police said the attempted murder charges relate to injuries sustained by the four children which are not all thought to be consistent with the collision.

The two girls, aged eight years and seven years, and two boys, and 21 months and nine months, all remain in hospital in a serious condition. One of the children was earlier reported to be in a coma.

Police said a grey Dacia Logan containing Scott and the four children was travelling along the A629 Copster Lane towards Hoylandswaine when the crash happened on Wednesday, at around 12.25am.

As the car approached the junction of Bower Hill and Coates Lane, it left the road and smashed into the front wall of The Travellers Inn pub.Police previously revealed Scott's ex-partner had reported him missing with the children from the Southampton area the day before the crash.